Lensrentals’ Groundhog Day: Top Five 2020 Rentals Same as 2019

In a year that saw more significant cameras released than any in recent memory, Lensrentals.com’s annual top 20 list showed a remarkably stable top 5. Even with cameras like the Canon R5, Sony A7s III and Nikon’s Z series, the workaday DSLR equipment continued to be the most rented category. The first entrants: The Canon 20-70 f/2.8 II, 5D Mark IV, 70-200 f/2.8 II, Sony A7 III and Canon 70-200 f/2.8 III were identical, in the same order, between last year and this year.

New to the list in 2020, but near the bottom, was the Canon 85mm f/1.2 II and the Sigma 18-35 f/1.8 Art, a crop lens much-loved by video shooters. Sony made the top 20 in four entries, versus three the previous year, and Nikon scored one entrant in each.

Missing from the lists were mirrorless cameras, aside from the Canon EOS R and the Sony A7 III, same as the year previous. None of the new mirrorless-mount lenses appeared. Absent were the Nikon Z series; Canon’s R7, R6 and RP; Sony’s A7s III, the A7R4, and the barely-upgraded A9 II.

Supply issues likely have a lot to do with the absence of some of the much-awaited cameras like the Canon R5 and Sony A7s III, but it was tempting in 2019 to credit supply issues for the absence of the new mirrorless cameras on offer then, such as the Z series and the A9 II.